For several moments after the ball landed near Rome Odunze at Ford Field on Thursday, Chicago Bears players stood in shock.
Down by three with 32 seconds remaining, the Bears were positioned at the Detroit Lions’ 41-yard line, needing to get closer for a potential game-tying field goal by Cairo Santos.
Although they had one timeout left, the Bears only ran one more play — a pass from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams to Odunze, who was near the 3-yard line. The clock expired, and the Bears lost 23-20, marking their fourth defeat in six games, all in puzzling fashion.
Everyone, from Williams and Odunze to Lions coach Dan Campbell and Bears coach Matt Eberflus, to the executives in the press box, appeared briefly confused.
“I saw the Detroit Lions walking off, and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’” wide receiver Keenan Allen said. “I didn’t realize time had expired… then I remembered we still had a timeout. It’s like, ‘Ah…’”
“What just happened?” tight end Cole Kmet asked.
“What the hell?” wide receiver DJ Moore said before correcting himself. “Nah, it was like, what the bleep?”
In the locker room, Bears players were still processing the ending, mixing anger with confusion. President Kevin Warren and chief administrative officer Ted Crews watched quietly.
Allen and left guard Teven Jenkins didn’t realize the Bears still had a timeout. Moore, and later Allen, were surprised the timeout wasn’t used as the clock ran out on their final play.
Eberflus explained in the postgame press conference that the plan was for Williams to run a play to the middle and call a timeout to set up the field goal. However, with time running out, Williams opted for a pass to Odunze, who was close to the end zone, realizing there was no time to run another play.
“You want it to be (called), but it didn’t happen,” Moore said of the timeout. “We just have to execute better.”
Execution issues plagued the Bears throughout the game, particularly on offense. They gained just 53 yards and two first downs in the first half, trailing 16-0. The final drive also featured several setbacks.
Kmet was penalized for offensive pass interference on a fourth-and-4 play, but the Bears overcame it on fourth-and-14 due to a defensive pass interference penalty on Lions cornerback Kindle Vildor. Then, Jenkins was penalized for illegal hands to the face. On the next play, Lions defensive lineman Za’Darius Smith sacked Williams, moving the Bears to third-and-26.
As the clock ticked down, the Bears scrambled to get set for the final play, which ended with an incomplete pass to Odunze.
“Caleb gave me a pump fake, but there was more than one high safety, so it was tough coverage,” Odunze explained. “He threw it where the safety wouldn’t be, and I tried to adjust, but couldn’t get there.”
Santos was also surprised by how the final moments unfolded.
He had been confident all day, missing just one kick during warm-ups. After two blocked field goals in recent games, he felt the operation was going well, having made both extra-point attempts. But he never got the chance to attempt the game-tying kick.
“I didn’t see that happening. We rehearse these scenarios, and I imagined myself getting that shot,” Santos said. “I don’t know what was communicated between the offense and what led to that.”
Moore described the Bears’ recent losses as “once-in-a-blue-moon” events, citing the Hail Mary loss to the Washington Commanders, the blocked field goal against the Green Bay Packers, the overtime defeat to the Minnesota Vikings, and now the mismanaged clock situation that left the Bears 4-8 after starting 4-2.
“We’ve got to figure out how to win,” Moore said. “We keep putting ourselves in position to win and then just mess it up.”
While several Bears players took responsibility for the misstep at the end of the game, not blaming Eberflus or the coaching staff alone, there were still lingering questions about how it all happened.
Kmet said he expected the team to review the end-of-game situation when they return to Halas Hall to prepare for their Dec. 8 road game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Until then, the Bears will likely dwell on another missed chance long after their Thanksgiving dinners are over.
“It was tough,” Allen said. “I feel like we did enough as players to win the game.”
